Duluth's NorShor Theater gets planning grant
by Bob Kelleher, Minnesota Public RadioDuluth, Minn. — A Duluth arts group has obtained a $10,000 grant to develop a business plan for the historic NorShor theater.
The city of Duluth bought the old vaudeville house and movie theater for $2.6 million last summer, and plans to open the downtown facility as a public arts venue.
The Duluth Playhouse will manage the theater, and its executive director, Christine Gradl Seitz, says she'll use the grant to study other historic theaters and plan uses for the NorShor.
"There is widespread interest, need, and desire for the NorShor in multiple art forms, so I truly do expect that the NorShor will be a venue for performing arts across the board -- music, dance, opera, theater -- all of the above," she said.
The NorShor remains closed until accessibility and code issues are addressed. The business plan grant comes from the Duluth-Superior area Community Foundation.
Bob Kelleher
• ReporterBob Kelleher joined MPR's Duluth News staff in 1990, after three years with a Duluth commercial radio station, and several years on broadcast stations in Iowa.
